Article Category: Employment Law & HR – Insight & Opinion

Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA) are frequently used to protect confidential information being revealed either publically or, in the commercial sense, to a competitor. These agreements, between employer and employee, will stipulate what information must remain confidential and under what, if any, circumstances the information can be used or disclosed. Are Non-Disclosure Agreements a new phenomenon? Although… Read more »

In short, no. In the UK, travel time to and from a worker’s home is excluded from ‘working time’ under the National Minimum Wage Regulations. However, in a case from 2015 the European Court of Justine (ECJ) decided that, where a worker has no fixed or habitual workplace, time spent travelling between their home and… Read more »

There has been a further decision in Uber’s ongoing battle regarding the status of its staff. Unsurprisingly, the Court of Appeal has held that Uber drivers are workers and have dismissed Uber’s appeal. This is now the third consecutive decision that has not been in Uber’s favour. The outcome of this ongoing legal process is… Read more »

Most employers and HR professionals will generally follow a rule that in order to dismiss an employee without prior warning, the conduct of the employee will need to constitute gross misconduct. However, in the latest Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) case Quintiles Commercial UK Ltd (QCUK) v Barongo, the EAT decided the tribunal was too quick… Read more »

Compensation for injury to feelings may now be awarded in a far wider list of claims than previously thought following a decision made by the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT). Previously, compensation for injury to feelings has only been available in discrimination claims, whistleblowing detriment claims, and trade union membership or activities detriment claims. However, the… Read more »

Will taking calls outside working hours soon be a distant memory? The Office for National Statistics recently produced data showing that in comparison to other G7 members the UK “had below average real productivity growth in both output per hour and output per worker”. This is against a backdrop of British employees working longer hours… Read more »

A Scottish Employment Tribunal has heard a case involving disability discrimination and ruled The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) must reinstate an employee who was fired for confusion over whether her own medication for her menopause symptoms had been drunk by two men. SCTS must also pay the employee £19,000 compensation which includes an… Read more »

Settlement Agreements are commonly used to end an employment relationship in a mutually agreeable way. They are often used in situations where an employer and employee feel their relationship has broken down and whilst employers tend to make the initial proposal, either party can make the first move. A Settlement Agreement can also cover non-employees…. Read more »

Ever since 26 July 2017, when the Supreme Court held that Employment Tribunal (ET) fees were unlawful and therefore scrapped with immediate effect, employers have been anxiously waiting to see if there would be a considerable increase in the number of Employment Tribunal claims being made. The wait is over, and unfortunately the results do… Read more »

Jack Kelly, Legal Apprentice, in our HR team tells us about why he chose a legal apprenticeship and what a typical day is for him. What attracted you to a legal apprenticeship? Many of my friends were going off to university but it just didn’t seem like the right path for me. I didn’t want… Read more »